Conveyor system for the pit floor of bowling alleys



April 11, 1961 K. c. SHERMAN 2,979,332

CONVEYOR SYSTEM FOR THE PIT FLOOR OF BOWLING ALLEYS Original Filed Aug.2, 1955 g F I 2 INVENTOR. KENNETH c. SHERMAN AT TORNEYS United StatesPatent ()flice 2,979,332 Patented Apr. 11, 1961 CON EYOR SYSTEM FOR THEPIT FLOOR F BOWLING ALLEYS Kenneth C. Sherman, Glen Burnie, Md. (168Beach Drive, Hillesmeres Shores, Annapolis, Md.)

Griginal application Aug. 2, 1955, Ser. No. 526,033,

now Patent No. 2,920,891, dated Jan. 12, 1960. Divided and thisapplication Jan. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 1,039

3 Claims. (Cl. 273- 13) alley for the purpose of transferring the pinsand balls which fall into the pit to the foot of an elevator at a rearcorner of the pit so that the elevator can pick them up and deliver theballs to a ball-return and the pins to apparatus for grouping them anddepositing the group in proper array on the pin-spot portion of thealley.

For a more complete understanding of the invention reference may be hadto the following description thereof and to the drawing, of which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the invention, parts beingbroken away to show details of structure, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a deflector board which goes with theapparatus shown in Figure 1.

The rear end portion of the surface of a bowling alley is shown inFigure 1. Also indicated are belt conveyors 16 in the gutters at eachside of the pin-spot portion of the alley. When a pin is knocked by aglancing blow into one of the gutters, it is promptly discharged intothe pit.

The belts 16 pass over rolls 18 mounted on a shaft 20 which also carriestwo rolls 22 and 24 supporting the forward loops of two conveyor beltshaving top reaches 25 and 26 extending along one side margin of the pit.The roll 24 is secured on a sleeve 27 which is on the shaft 20 butrevolves in the opposite direction, so that the belt 26 is driven towardthe front. Disposed transversely of the pit is a broad belt having anupperreach 28 which is driven toward the belt 26. A deflector board 29is at the forward edge of the belt 28 and crosses over the belts 26 and25, the board being indicated in Figure 1 by broken lines. A seconddeflector board 30 cooperates with the board 29 to keep the balls andpins on the belt 28 from leaving the belt until they are delivered tothe belt 26. The narrowed portion 29' toward the right causes pins onthe belt 26 to be deflected over to the belt 25. The belt 25 is narrowerthan the body of a pin so that the pins thereon necessarily are insingle file. This prevents congestion of pins at the foot of theelevator 14, the pins thus being delivered to the elevator one at atime.

For driving the several belts in the directions described, the shaft 20and sleeve 27 have miter gears 40 and 42, respectively, which mesh witha miter gear 44 mounted on a shaft 46. Also mounted on the shaft 46 area pinion 48, a sprocket wheel 50 and another miter gear 52. The pinion48 meshes with a pinion 54 on a shaft 56 which drives the conveyor-belt28. The miter gear 52 meshes with another miter gear 60 mounted on ashaft 58 which drives the belt 25. The sprocket wheel 50 is connected bya chain 62 to the mechanism of the elevator 14 which in turn is drivenby a motor (not shown).

I claim:

1. In combination, a bowling alley having a pin receiving pit at its farend and a pin receiving and elevating mechanism adjacent to one farcorner of the pit; an endless conveyor approximately as wide as abowling pin having a horizontal top reach disposed parallel with thealley along one margin of the pit to the elevating mechanism, a secondconveyor having a horizontal top reach alongside the first said conveyorand running in the opposite direction, an endless conveyor having ahorizontal top reach extending transversely of the alley from the othermargin of the pit to said second conveyor, and driving connections fordriving the conveyors to move the first named reach toward the elevatingmechanism, the second named reach in the opposite direction, the

third named reach in a direction toward the second References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,445,797 Peirce Feb. 20,1923 1,479,866 Moores Jan. 8, 1924v 2,003,097 Vickery May 28, 19352,353,638 Beaulieu et a1. July 18, 1944 2,626,802 Simpson Jan. 27, 1953

